How do you feel about GRAFFITI on trains?

[spbed]

Thanks & use of their talents are being wasted if we presume that they are vandals. But, what if they are really art students getting experience? That would paint a whole difference pix of them I think. In any case I enjoy most of it when I see it. Once I saw a boxcar painted up with a American flag that seem to fit the car perfectly. I told my wife that some student had to paint it as it all seemed to perfect for some untrained guy with some paint cans & no training to ccomplish. [:o)]

QUOTE: Originally posted by locomutt

QUOTE: Originally posted by spbed

Well to give them a job you have to first find them. Most likely whomever is using the paint cans on the cars would be very fearful to admit that they are doing it.

Unfortunately,you bring up a VERY good point.
It really is too bad,as their 'talent' is being 'wasted'

[spbed]

This AM on the Ft. Madison cam a BNSF loco went by loaded with GRAFFITI.

[selector]

I am very late getting to this topic, but I will add that it is nothing more than gangster behaviour designed to issue a challenge. It's a cultural behaviour found in youth who do not subscribe to organization the way we older people have with our Masons, Shriners, Elks, etc. Even the Scouting organizations are struggling to get members. I would say that it is cowardly because much of the tagging is done looking over one's shoulder to see if anyone is coming. No real courage or imagination required, just paint stolen from Walmart.

It's like anything else, really, one person does something that others feel is cool, and away it goes. We should find a way to make it unprofitable, as the taggers would characterize 'unprofitable'. Like being forced to repaint vandalized rolling stock by hand and brush if convicted.

[CSXrules4eva]

OH OK wut do I think about Graffiti on
trains??/ / / / . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .hummmmmmm let me see. . . . . . . . . . .I HATE IT!!!! Like so may other members of the forums. When I see a train I want to be able to read the reporting marks and car numbers on the rail cars. When I see a locomotive I want to see the fresh paint, or even the dirty paint. Even if there is rust on the locomotive or cars I want to see that too!!!!!!!!!!!! I really ticks me off when I see it on trains. I have a friend of mine who isn't a railfan who told me he likes to see graffiti on trains. This is when I said DON't EVER AND I MEAN EVER LET ME HEAR U SAY THAT AGAIN!! Now if I see Graffiti on T-shirts (clothes) or as art work on paper or something like that I like it. I do a little grafiti myself but, it's on paper I concider them logos.

[espeefoamer]

I don't like graffiti on trains,even when the railroads do it. There is one railroad(which shall remain unnamed,)that spraypaints its yellow graffiti on the cabs of gray locos,and even renumbers the engines[:(!]!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bjk041089

Alot of their artwork is very artistic, but I wonder why they don't sign up for an art class of some sort? It puzzles me.

Some of them are "artists", more self proclaimed then classicaly trained. I did see a video on 3 artist who came from that background. 2 of them still tagged on a regular basis. The video even showed them tagging some boxcars!

I think some of the graffiti is just trash, but with the railway corps not too interested in promoting their image, why not designate a few cars to be tagged monthly? Then they wouldn't have to spend so much $$$ on boxcar brown paint and it would be legal (not necessarily pretty!![:p])

[eolafan]

Graffiti on trains, as anywhere else, is a part of modern life...well, it actually goes back thousands of years as archeologists have found a sort of graffiti in tombs of the Egyptians dating back B.C. .....and so it is really nothing new or unique, so we will just have to live with it. Actually, some of it is pretty talented stuff but I often wonder what else the "artist' could be doing with his/her life given the tremendous amounts of time some of these works must take.

[spbed]

Sounds like a wonderful idea. Maybe the TV stations can put up a little booty each month for the "best painted car". [:p]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wncrails

QUOTE: Originally posted by bjk041089

Alot of their artwork is very artistic, but I wonder why they don't sign up for an art class of some sort? It puzzles me.

Some of them are "artists", more self proclaimed then classicaly trained. I did see a video on 3 artist who came from that background. 2 of them still tagged on a regular basis. The video even showed them tagging some boxcars!

I think some of the graffiti is just trash, but with the railway corps not too interested in promoting their image, why not designate a few cars to be tagged monthly? Then they wouldn't have to spend so much $$$ on boxcar brown paint and it would be legal (not necessarily pretty!![:p])

[AntonioFP45]

I remember back in the 70s, some well meaning bueracrat in New York City proposed the idea of designating certain subway cars for graffitti since it had seemed to have gotten out of control. No offense, but to me this man was.........a moron and though many New Yorkers considered themselves "open-minded", they didn't go for it either. Regardless of the reasoning, that would have just been telling the public that graffitti vandals were going to be rewarded for their tenacity!

Too many "PC" oriented leaders in municipalities often create more problems than solve them. As a former New Yorker myself I saw it for myself.

Thankfully David Gunn came along years later and said a big NO to trashing trains! The transit authority started applying the PPG 50 series Urethane Clear Coat which showed greater resistence to spray paint tagging. Additionally MTA started purchasing Stainless Steel cars. The trains are much cleaner today.

The only reason we have so many tagged freight cars is that the Class 1s are no longer prioritizing appearance as they did years back when freight cars had those huge, beautiful logos. Tons per mile, not image seems to be priority.

Speaking only for myself and having lived in the ghetto as a kid, parents are still the ones that can make a difference with their kids! The bored and living in the ghetto excuse just can't cut it. I often see that (not all of course) but many parents are so liberal with their kids at a young age to the point where if a child acts rudely and is corrected by another adult, the parent is offended! As some of these kids grow with no boundaries, they decide at a young age to test their limits. Tagging is a good example of this.

I have a student who admits to tagging. To him or his mom, it seems like no big deal!

I know that my mother would have demolished me had I trashed private property!

O.K, I'm finished ranting!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by espeefoamer

I don't like graffiti on trains,even when the railroads do it. There is one railroad(which shall remain unnamed,)that spraypaints its yellow graffiti on the cabs of gray locos,and even renumbers the engines[:(!]!

Man, why is everybody so down on the Union Pacific? Is it because they're incompetent? Is it because they've, on a few occasions, totally blundered the good name of companies that they took over, when such purchases should have been relatively easy? Is it because, compared to CNW or Southern Pacific, UP employees (understandably) have about as much company pride as one has for their morning turd? IS it because the company is comparatively rife with bueraucracy and a bit strict on employees? Is it because, as someone commented on this forum earlier, "Union Pacific couldn't run a train through a whorehouse?" The above is like the fourth comment I've read on this listing where someone has compared the UP logo on old SP units to graffiti or some 18 year old putz's tag ("thrasher oner, d.b.s crew"). I'm sorry, I digress, I just had to take some time to ba***he railroad that so often serves the role of the butt of many a joke. Ummm, no offense, union pacific.

[pat390]

I HATE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[oltmannd]

I don't like it.

What I would like to see is the RRs actually painting some real brand identity on the frt cars and keeping a good coat of paint on them.

NS's latest gen svc box cars have an NS init and number on them, no logo!

All those incentive per diem box cars from the 70s still have their original paint even throgh they are have been restencilled as ownership has changed. They look AWFUL w/o graffiti.

Remember when RRs put slogans on box frt cars? Why shouldn't NS's say "The thoroughbred of transportation" somewhere on'em? Or, if you have a pool of cars in dedicated service for Ford, let's say. Then put the Ford logo on them, too. It would give the general public something to think about when they're stuck at the crossing -- and maybe it wouldn't all be negative.

[Anonymous]

I knew sooner or later someone was going to tell cops to hunt down graffitti "artists" and hang em high.

Given the unusual amount of hostility y'all seem to exhibit towards cops doing their jobs in and around railroad property (someone said "it's private property and you have no right to be there" in another thread) it's a clear case of having your cake and eating it, too.

Let's just assume for a moment that I get a call here in my patch of paradise for a tagger. No problem, I'll respond... it's my job. The first question I'm going to ask is "Are you going to prosecute?". (If I didn't see it, I can't make an arrest.) If the answer is "Yes!" I'll be requiring some identification for my report. Seeing as how the railroad folks here are a little leery about providing ID's to cops... I have a funny feeling my report is going to be file 13'd. Now you've wasted MY time and yours. If you are a private citizen (aka a railfan) reporting the vandalism, the same will apply.

Comment was made that gang bangers don't tag railcars. They do. I have seen gang signatures from out west running around here in the east. A gang banger who can tag a car has just extended his gang territory far beyond the borders of his turf.

Just for a moment, let's assume I actually catch these "artists" in the act. Their parents will ask the same questions you folks ask when a cop "hassles" you, which is: "Don't you have drug dealers to catch?" Given the numerous protections a kinder and more sensitive society has given to "juvenile offenders" most of the punishments you folks mention are inappropriate and illegal.

I am fairly curious though... if, as someone has said, a car carrier has been left standing in one place long enough for an "artist" to cover the car to such an extent that "there was no metal left", what does that say about the railroad handling that car? Sounds like it was sitting somewhere for a while, unattended and unwatched.

Erik
Time to catch a drug dealer or a bank robber

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by southern lady

How do you feel about GRAFFITI on trains?

If an artist painted the most beautiful picture in the world
on a piece of railroad equipment or anything else and
did not have permission to do so, that's vandelism.

railwayray

love that BNSF

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

Graffiti is vandalism, pure and simple. The MORONS who engage in this kind of behavior never seem to stop and think about a couple things. First, more often than not the car they are defacing with spray paint is privately owned and the owners of such cars do not like having their property vandalized. Secondly, these MORONS will climb all over any given car, ignoring the possibility that they might fall and end up with severe injuries............and if that happens, guess what? They turn around and sue the railroad!
It's not unreasonable to think that an idiotic kid could back away from his "artistic" creation and into the path of an approaching train. If a brainless moron is caught tagging a car, he should be made to pay the cost of having the entire car repainted, which is about $12,000.00. But sadly, I suspect that anything like this rarely happens.

[adrianspeeder]

Adrianspeeder

[Modelcar]

....It simply should not be there. It's against the law to do so.

[spbed]

Why again? Anything we say in this forum will not change the facts that unless the RR police police their yards the painting will continue [:p][:D]

Originally posted by adrianspeeder
[

Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR  Austin TX Sub

• Reply